‘Test-&-trace’ crucial but won’t beat coronavirus alone: study | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Thursday
June 12, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
THURSDAY, JUNE 12, 2025
‘Test-&-trace’ crucial but won’t beat coronavirus alone: study

Coronavirus chronicle

BSS/AFP
19 August, 2020, 09:40 am
Last modified: 19 August, 2020, 09:44 am

Related News

  • 10 more Covid-19 cases reported in country
  • Yes, everyone really is sick a lot more often after covid
  • Pentagon's secret anti-vax campaign against China during the pandemic
  • Bangladesh reports one Covid-19 death, 37 positive cases
  • 3rd, 4th doses of Covid-19 vaccination underway

‘Test-&-trace’ crucial but won’t beat coronavirus alone: study

Anything above “1” means the disease is continuing to expand; below that threshold, it will eventually peter out

BSS/AFP
19 August, 2020, 09:40 am
Last modified: 19 August, 2020, 09:44 am
A medical worker administers a test for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) on a member of the public at a pop-up testing centre in Sydney, Australia, August 12, 2020. Photo:Reuters
A medical worker administers a test for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) on a member of the public at a pop-up testing centre in Sydney, Australia, August 12, 2020. Photo:Reuters

Testing for Covid-19 and tracing the prior contacts of those found to be infected are crucial measures for slowing the disease's spread, but inadequate unless combined with other measures, researchers said Wednesday.

By itself, the test-and-trace approach can reduce the virus' reproduction rate, or R number, by 26 percent, they reported in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, using mathematical models to examine data from previously published studies.

The reproduction rate measures the number of people in a population, on average, infected by each person carrying the virus.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

Anything above "1" means the disease is continuing to expand; below that threshold, it will eventually peter out.

Some countries that brought the spread of Covid-19 under control but are now struggling to prevent a resurgence have R numbers well above 1.

Study links Covid-19 to rise in childhood type 1 diabetes

In France, for example, it hovered at about 1.33 during the first week of August, according to national health authorities.

But the new finding comes with a caveat, said lead author Nicholas Grassly, a professor at Imperial College's School of Public Health.

"Our results show that test and trace can help reduce the R number but needs to be carried out effectively and quickly to do so," he said in a statement.

Concretely, that means immediate testing with the onset of symptoms and results within 24 hours; the quarantine of contacts, also within 24 hours; and the identification of 80 percent of cases and contacts.

Very few countries — notably South Korea, Taiwan and Germany — have come close to staying within these guidelines, and most are still falling well short.

In France, for example, it generally take days to get an appointment for a so-called PCR nasal test, and on average 3.5 days for a result, according to official figures.

– Herd immunity not close –

In the United States and the UK, delays can be even longer.

Even if nations do adhere to these guidelines, it will still not be enough to bring the infection rate down sufficiently by itself, the new study concludes.

"Test and trace alone won't be enough to control transmission in most communities, and other measures alongside will be needed to bring the R number below 1," said Grassly.

Weekly screening of high-risk groups such as health and social-care workers — regardless of whether they have symptoms or not — can reduce transmission by an additional 23 percent, his team found.

Experts are still unsure as to what percentage of a population must be immune — a threshold known as "herd immunity" — to prevent the virus from continuing to spread.

Estimates range from below 50 to 70 percent.

It is possible that some of the hardest hit regions — New York City, northern Italy — may be close to these levels, but at a national scale the numbers are still far lower, probably barely in double digits.

WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan said Tuesday that the planet was "nowhere close to the levels of immunity required to stop this disease".

People should "not live in hope of herd immunity being our salvation. Right now, that is not a solution," he added.

A vaccine, of course, would also provide immunity, but is unlikely to be available until next year.

Currently, only people who have fought off Covid-19 and survived have some degree of immunity, though it remains unclear how robust it is and how long it lasts.

It is also unclear the extent to which people with mild or asymptomatic cases have immunity at all.

The novel coronavirus has killed nearly 775,000 people and infected almost 22 million since the outbreak emerged in China last December, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP.

Coronavirus / test and trace

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Wreckage of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner showing part of its registration "VT-ANB" in Ahmedabad, India, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Amit Dave
    Air India plane crash: Not all dead, one survivor identified, 204 bodies recovered
  • CA informs King Charles of Bangladesh's reform initiatives
    CA informs King Charles of Bangladesh's reform initiatives
  • News of The Day, 12 JUNE 2025
    News of The Day, 12 JUNE 2025

MOST VIEWED

  • Keir Starmer declines to meet CA Yunus: FT report
    Keir Starmer declines to meet CA Yunus: FT report
  • Wreckage of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner showing part of its registration "VT-ANB" in Ahmedabad, India, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Amit Dave
    Air India plane crash: Not all dead, one survivor identified, 204 bodies recovered
  • Saifuzzaman Chowdhury. Photo: Collected
    UK crime agency now freezes assets of ex-land minister Saifuzzaman: AJ
  • File Photo of Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus: UNB
    Prof Yunus to receive Harmony Award from King Charles today
  • Infofgraphics: TBS
    DGHS issues 11-point directive to prevent spread of Covid-19 in Bangladesh
  • Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur. TBS Sketch
    Bangladesh considering settlements with tycoons over offshore wealth: Mansur tells FT

Related News

  • 10 more Covid-19 cases reported in country
  • Yes, everyone really is sick a lot more often after covid
  • Pentagon's secret anti-vax campaign against China during the pandemic
  • Bangladesh reports one Covid-19 death, 37 positive cases
  • 3rd, 4th doses of Covid-19 vaccination underway

Features

Among pet birds in the country, lovebirds are the most common, and they are also the most numerous in the haat. Photo: Junayet Rashel

Where feathers meet fortune: How a small pigeon stall became Dhaka’s premiere bird market

1d | Panorama
Illustration: Duniya Jahan/ TBS

Forget Katy Perry, here’s Bangladesh’s Ruthba Yasmin shooting for the moon

2d | Features
File photo of Eid holidaymakers returning to the capital from their country homes/Rajib Dhar

Dhaka: The city we never want to return to, but always do

3d | Features
Photo collage shows political posters in Bagerhat. Photos: Jannatul Naym Pieal

From Sheikh Dynasty to sibling rivalry: Bagerhat signals a turning tide in local politics

5d | Bangladesh

More Videos from TBS

Banks' estimates were wrong: Bangladesh Bank spokesperson

Banks' estimates were wrong: Bangladesh Bank spokesperson

1h | Podcast
What exactly happened to the ill-fated Boeing aircraft?

What exactly happened to the ill-fated Boeing aircraft?

2h | TBS World
Govt to set up Debt Office as loan burden to hit Tk29 lakh cr by FY28

Govt to set up Debt Office as loan burden to hit Tk29 lakh cr by FY28

2h | TBS Insight
Curfew imposed for second night in Los Angeles

Curfew imposed for second night in Los Angeles

3h | TBS World
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net